Obama mourns Inouye: Country 'has lost a true American hero'

12/17/12 6:51 PM EST

President Obama on Monday remembered the late Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) as "someone revered by all of us lucky enough to know him."

"Tonight, our country has lost a true American hero with the passing of Senator Daniel Inouye," Obama said in a statement just an hour after Inouye's office announced that he had died.

Referring to Inouye as "Danny," Obama noted that he'd represented Hawaii in Congress since it won statehood in 1959 – first in the House and then, beginning in 1963, in the Senate.

"In Washington, he worked to strengthen our military, forge bipartisan consensus, and hold those of us in government accountable to the people we were elected to serve," Obama said. "But it was his incredible bravery during World War II – including one heroic effort that cost him his arm but earned him the Medal of Honor – that made Danny not just a colleague and a mentor, but someone revered by all of us lucky enough to know him."

Obama, who was born and raised in Hawaii, didn't get particularly personal in his statement, but he did conclude by saying: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Inouye family."

From his campaign Twitter account, @barackobama, the president added: "Aloha, Danny."